Gospel Study – John 11, the Raising of Lazarus

Report by John-Peter Gernaat

The Gospel of John 11: 1 - 44 gives us the fifth of the seven “I am” statements of Christ in John’s Gospel and the seventh of the Seven Signs recorded in this Gospel. The fifth “I am” statement is “I am the resurrection and the life”, and the seventh Sign is the Raising of Lazarus from the tomb.

The initiation known as Temple Sleep was common in the Egypto-Chaldean Cultural Epoch. During this initiation the one undergoing initiation was able to enter a state of death where the astral body was completely released for the physical body and the etheric body lifted out of the physical body but was able to continue to sustain the physical body while outside of the body. The etheric could be called back into the physical body after three days. The effect of re-entering the physical body drew the astral body back into the physical. The initiate, because of careful preparation, was then able to relay the experiences that the astral body had encountered in the spiritual world. However, by the Greco-Roman Epoch the constitution of the human being had developed to the point where the etheric body was no longer able to sustain the physical body from the outside and Temple Sleep initiation could no longer be practiced after a time.

In the Sign of the Raising of Lazarus the etheric body of Christ had been so penetrated by the incarnating Christ that it had loosened from the physical body and Jesus was able to make his life forces available to other people. Lazarus had died and experienced the first death where the etheric body leaves the physical body. However, his etheric body did not dissipate, and he did not experience the second death. It is worth noting that Jesus arrives at the tomb of Lazarus on the fourth day. This tells us that this had gone beyond a Temple Sleep initiation. This was indeed the last Temple Sleep initiation.  On the fourth day the etheric life forces of Jesus, permeated with the Christ, were able to draw the etheric body of Lazarus from around his physical body back into the physical body and the etheric is able to call back the astral body. Lazarus had died and on the fourth day was called from the tomb by Christ.

As a result of this death, Lazarus receives a title, he becomes John. This death also means that his final death was not a martyr’s experience (he did not have a bear witness in death). He was able to slip peacefully across the threshold into the spiritual world. More importantly, this death initiated him into being able to cross the threshold of death and return to life, which he did on the Island of Patmos. There he was called into the Spiritual World and experienced the revelation of the Spiritual World that he was asked to record. This revelation provides us with the Book of Revelation at the end of the New Testament.

Lazarus receives an experience of Golgotha before Jesus was crucified; he experiences the Resurrection forces of Jesus Christ. This is the “I am” statement: “I am the resurrection and the life”. Christ calling Lazarus from the tomb expresses and manifests the overcoming of the dying earth existence. “I am the resurrection” is related to the Spirit Self of the Human constitution, The Sprit Self is the transubstantiation of the astral body through the ‘I’-constitution, through the Christ-in-me.

When we relate the Signs to the Sacraments the seventh Sign is related to the Sacrament connected to the crossing of the threshold of life and death. This is the Sacrament of the Last Anointing. An anointing was only given in ancient times to someone who needed to cross this threshold while living on the earth. These were prophets, priests and kings. The last prophet was John the Baptist. No new message from the spiritual world has come since John the Baptist proclaimed the nearness of the Kingdom of God and the need to turn around within oneself. The fullness of revelation came with Christ and was expounded at hand of his Resurrection forces at work in Lazarus-John. Since then, we are able to deepen and more fully appreciate what has been revealed – for all that we need in revelation flows from Christ alive in our experience of earth existence. The role of the king has also come to an end as the human being in the age of the Consciousness Soul must become king in his or her own body. The time of an external king to guide the human being is over. Only priests are still anointed to cross the threshold into death to proclaim the message of the Divine when the ritual is fulfilled at the altar. The Last Anointing is the sacrament that strengthens the soul to cross into the spiritual world at death.